Michigan primary results, Olympia Snowe resignation bode ill for GOP

Andre J. Jackson/Detroit Free Press/MCTIn a hard-fought battle, Mitt Romney has narrowly won the Republican presidential primary election in Michigan. The candidate is pictured here during a meeting Tuesday with volunteers at his campaign headquarters in Livonia, Michigan.

Let's join Mitt Romney in a collective sigh of relief. Michigan was quite the scare. We really thought we might see the Republican party go careening off a cliff.

And all Americans, no matter what party, should hope that November election pits the best of one party against the best of another. To root for a weak candidate is a game that is simply too dangerous. The risk of a Rick Santorum presidency is chilling.

But Romney was damaged. This was his home turf, after all, a state he should have easily won. And in the long run, Republicans have likely lost Michigan -- which lately had leaned Republican -- thanks to their anti-bailout, anti-auto industry rhetoric.

As usual, it was all in the name of rallying the base, a load of tea party fanatics. That's exactly what Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) was talking about when she announced yesterday she would not run for re-election, citing the lack of compromise and moderation in Congress.

“Unfortunately, I do not realistically expect the partisanship of recent years in the Senate to change over the short term,” said Snowe, 65, in a statement. “So at this stage of my tenure in public service, I have concluded that I am not prepared to commit myself to an additional six years in the Senate, which is what a fourth term would entail.

Hard to blame her. Who wants to be along for the ride with these nut cases behind the wheel? Imagine for a moment that Santorum had won. This is a man who has disparaged the idea that all Americans should have access to a college education, who says a John F. Kennedy speech on the First Amendment's separation of church and state makes him want to "throw up."

Yet Michigan shows us what a true threat he poses to Romney. The frontrunner was desperate enough for support -- in the state where he grew up -- that he stuck to his absurdist claim about Michigan's auto industry: that it should have just been allowed to tank.

Never mind that the state was being driven toward economic collapse, with massive job losses. The Obama bailout has since helped GM and Chrysler bounce back and become amazingly profitable again. Not surprisingly, in Michigan the bailout is very popular, supported by 63 percent of registered voters.

Yet the extremism of his rivals continues to dog Romney: He's already flip-flopped on abortion, gay rights, health care. Anything to appease social conservatives. Expect much of the same next week in Ohio and Georgia -- Super Tuesday's prize states where he trails in the polls.

“I’m not willing to light my hair on fire to try to get support,” Romney remarked Tuesday.